email 2/23/09
Paysandu continues to be a beautiful place and at the same time somewhat difficult as far as missionary work goes. It is a really good thing that my companion and I get along so well because we have many street hours together. I know that the trick will be learning to work with the ward. We can keep knocking doors if we want, and we do when we see a house that looks somewhat alive. The work is slow, not many investigators but we still do have some. We can't complain. There is a 30 year old woman named Lorena with 3 kids that went to church once with us and she is interested. Her big problem is that she has told us that she knows to get baptized she would need to quit smoking and that for her that just doesn’t appear possible since she has smoked since she was 12. We will get her eventually because she is reading and praying and people that do that always progress. In the meantime we need more things to do.
It rained all this last week and so there wasn’t a lot of people in the street to talk to. The other day it started to rain all of the sudden and we weren’t ready with umbrellas or anything because it had started as a sunny day. We ran to be beneath a balcony. When it rains here it pours and we knew if we went out into the rain we would be soaked in 2 seconds flat. While under the balcony we decided, "hey, lets knock this door. Maybe they will feel bad and let us in." The guy opened the door and shook his hand "we are 7th Day Adventists" and I said "that’s fine, we just wanted to let you know we are here under your balcony waiting out the rain..." and before I could say more he shouted "Stay there then!" and slammed the door. Some people are less than pleasant. I didn’t expect that from an Adventist because they are usually super nice with us and eager to try and convert us to their faith. Be nice to people. If the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock your door, offer them a drink. If it is raining really heavy offer to let them come in for a minute to wait out the storm.
My official quote and theme of the month is "Pray as if everything depended upon God. Work as if everything depended upon you." I believe that is true. As far as prayer goes I still struggle to understand the effects of prayer. Because in the end we are all familiar with those famous words "Thy will be done". For a while I wondered what the point of prayer was if God already knew everything and it is His will to be done. Will my prayer for a sick person really help that sick person get better unless God already wills it to be so? It was a complex question. In the first place, yes I do believe a prayer for a sick person does help and that miracles have occurred because of faithful prayers. But I think more generally prayer is about us showing our dependence upon God. When Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread, He did so knowing we were going to receive the daily bread. Here is the kicker, I bet that whether or not I pray I will be given the daily bread. But when I do pray and give thanks for the bread and ask that He bless me, I am showing my dependence upon the Maker and I am humbling myself before Him recognizing that everything we have is part of His creation. Let us remember our true purpose in life, which is to progress. I grow as I place my trust in Him and recognize His hand in my life. Prayer sometimes is nothing more than a parent-teacher conference, a check up, so that we can tell Him how we think we are doing and He can help us to know what we can do better.
Anyway, I hope that all is well back home. Keep praying for me and I always do for you. Prayer is a very real power in our lives. I know that He is listening. If we are heavy laden or tired, He can give us rest. Those are the words of the Master and they compose a very real promise. He hears us and gives us rest. I testify of that. Take care of yourselves!! I love you!
Andy
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
P-du Miracles
email 2/16/09
So I had a fun humbling experience last week with Elder Ericson. Lets all remember the movie the Best Two Years and the super excited and enthusiastic greenie played by Kirby. Anyway, that is my companion. I cant think of a better analogy. Anyway, remember in the movie when the greenie says all excitedly "he took down our number and said he would call!!" And all the seasoned missionaries are just like "oh too bad. Better luck next time." And then the guy actually does call while they are all praying and it is a funny scene in the movie.
Okay, so we were having a hard time finding someone who was actually interested in learning about the gospel. Elder Ericson had apparently been praying in his personal prayers that somebody would come up to us who was interested. The day after his prayer we were out proselyting and a man screamed "HELLO" in English and I figured it was some teenagers making fun of us like they always try to do. He grabs my sleeve and says "Elder, there is a guy who wants to talk to us" and we see this man who was at work across the street give us the wait signal with his hand. We wait and he crosses and begins trying to speak in English, but doesn’t actually speak English, and then gives up and speaks Spanish. Anyway, I ask the man if he wanted to learn some more English, "how bout we come by your house some time and we will give you an English class" and he said no. He asked if we had a pamphlet or something to give him and so I handed him the address to the church pamphlet that I had in my back pocket. He said "okay, I will go to your church on Sunday." I said "Okay great. How bout we come by before Sunday so we can share with you a little bit about what you will see on Sunday in church." He again said he didn’t want to give us his address. End of contact.
We keep walking and my companion slaps me in the back all excited "YES!!! I was praying so hard that someone who was interested would come to us!! YES!!" Not wanting to put down his excitement I just said "yeah, that’s cool. It will be cool when he goes to church." But inside I knew that he was just another contact. I figured he just wanted to have fun with the gringos and try speaking English like a lot of people do. I didn’t think much of it. But all week my companion was so excited about the man. "At least this Sunday we will have that guy in church, and we can baptize him in 3 weeks right? They only have to go 3 times right?" I never told him that I figured we would never see the man again. In my experience we were never going to see the man again.
Lo and behold, Sunday morning as I am about to start the Gospel Fundamentals class our friend Angel Dilongo comes walking in. My companion who had expected his arrival runs up to him "GOOD MORNING!! Come in, come in!" I hope my mouth wasn’t wide open as I shook his hand and asked him to sit down. He was the only person there for class beside a recent convert woman. (we have a really small ward of about 20 active). So I announced the class "today we will be talking about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." And we just taught him the first lesson there in our chapel during church. He seemed decently well versed in the bible, had some golden questions and opinions: "my parents are catholic. I just don’t understand why they pray to the Saints and the Virgin. Shouldn’t we only pray to God?" It was too good to be true. Wanting to continue in our string of miracles I decided we should just be bold: "Will you be baptized?" He replies, "Does that take a long time? When can I get baptized?". We still have a lot to teach him, but we set up to teach him on Tuesday. He really liked church.
So that is my fun story of the greenie magic. Pretty cool eh? He recognized that that man approaching us was the answer to his sincere prayer.
Anyway, that is my fun story for the week. It has been rainy and when it rains here it floods the streets. It comes down so fast and so hard. We have been pretty wet but we are doing well. Life is good. I didn’t even notice that Valentine’s Day was last week until today when my friend Elder McClellan called and told me he had a Valentine’s package. That means therefore that I am a dedicated missionary because I didn’t even think about the romantic holiday. It didn’t once cross my mind. You all have my permission to be proud of me.
Lacey Wells wrote me and said she is getting married. Another one bites the dust. She was a winner too. A linguist and a friend since we were little kids. So many things will be so different when I go home. The Dear John that I am most afraid of would be one from Peter Christiansen or John Nudd. That would devastate me. If any of you ever see them tell them to stay single long enough to go on a fishing trip with me when I get home. That is all I ask.
Anyway, I must be going. I hope everyone is well and happy. Don’t forget to have faith. Faith and positivity really does make this world move. Make our world move in a good direction. Take care. Love y'all!!
Andy
So I had a fun humbling experience last week with Elder Ericson. Lets all remember the movie the Best Two Years and the super excited and enthusiastic greenie played by Kirby. Anyway, that is my companion. I cant think of a better analogy. Anyway, remember in the movie when the greenie says all excitedly "he took down our number and said he would call!!" And all the seasoned missionaries are just like "oh too bad. Better luck next time." And then the guy actually does call while they are all praying and it is a funny scene in the movie.
Okay, so we were having a hard time finding someone who was actually interested in learning about the gospel. Elder Ericson had apparently been praying in his personal prayers that somebody would come up to us who was interested. The day after his prayer we were out proselyting and a man screamed "HELLO" in English and I figured it was some teenagers making fun of us like they always try to do. He grabs my sleeve and says "Elder, there is a guy who wants to talk to us" and we see this man who was at work across the street give us the wait signal with his hand. We wait and he crosses and begins trying to speak in English, but doesn’t actually speak English, and then gives up and speaks Spanish. Anyway, I ask the man if he wanted to learn some more English, "how bout we come by your house some time and we will give you an English class" and he said no. He asked if we had a pamphlet or something to give him and so I handed him the address to the church pamphlet that I had in my back pocket. He said "okay, I will go to your church on Sunday." I said "Okay great. How bout we come by before Sunday so we can share with you a little bit about what you will see on Sunday in church." He again said he didn’t want to give us his address. End of contact.
We keep walking and my companion slaps me in the back all excited "YES!!! I was praying so hard that someone who was interested would come to us!! YES!!" Not wanting to put down his excitement I just said "yeah, that’s cool. It will be cool when he goes to church." But inside I knew that he was just another contact. I figured he just wanted to have fun with the gringos and try speaking English like a lot of people do. I didn’t think much of it. But all week my companion was so excited about the man. "At least this Sunday we will have that guy in church, and we can baptize him in 3 weeks right? They only have to go 3 times right?" I never told him that I figured we would never see the man again. In my experience we were never going to see the man again.
Lo and behold, Sunday morning as I am about to start the Gospel Fundamentals class our friend Angel Dilongo comes walking in. My companion who had expected his arrival runs up to him "GOOD MORNING!! Come in, come in!" I hope my mouth wasn’t wide open as I shook his hand and asked him to sit down. He was the only person there for class beside a recent convert woman. (we have a really small ward of about 20 active). So I announced the class "today we will be talking about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." And we just taught him the first lesson there in our chapel during church. He seemed decently well versed in the bible, had some golden questions and opinions: "my parents are catholic. I just don’t understand why they pray to the Saints and the Virgin. Shouldn’t we only pray to God?" It was too good to be true. Wanting to continue in our string of miracles I decided we should just be bold: "Will you be baptized?" He replies, "Does that take a long time? When can I get baptized?". We still have a lot to teach him, but we set up to teach him on Tuesday. He really liked church.
So that is my fun story of the greenie magic. Pretty cool eh? He recognized that that man approaching us was the answer to his sincere prayer.
Anyway, that is my fun story for the week. It has been rainy and when it rains here it floods the streets. It comes down so fast and so hard. We have been pretty wet but we are doing well. Life is good. I didn’t even notice that Valentine’s Day was last week until today when my friend Elder McClellan called and told me he had a Valentine’s package. That means therefore that I am a dedicated missionary because I didn’t even think about the romantic holiday. It didn’t once cross my mind. You all have my permission to be proud of me.
Lacey Wells wrote me and said she is getting married. Another one bites the dust. She was a winner too. A linguist and a friend since we were little kids. So many things will be so different when I go home. The Dear John that I am most afraid of would be one from Peter Christiansen or John Nudd. That would devastate me. If any of you ever see them tell them to stay single long enough to go on a fishing trip with me when I get home. That is all I ask.
Anyway, I must be going. I hope everyone is well and happy. Don’t forget to have faith. Faith and positivity really does make this world move. Make our world move in a good direction. Take care. Love y'all!!
Andy
It Is A Boy!
email 2/09/09
In the mission it is a very common joke that a missionary trainer is a father and his trainee is his kid. Well my kid is named Elder Bryce Ericson from Kuna, Idaho. He is a well-mannered boy. His dad is a high school Spanish and geography teacher and his mom is from Spain. He understands Spanish really well for a greenie. Definitely the best of his group. He isn’t shy but he is quiet. He is a lot like me I think, or like I was when I started. To be honest, he reminds me a lot of Luke. The thing that I find weirdest is that he graduated in 2008!! That is 2 years after me!! I cant believe I graduated high school 3 years ago. He makes me feel old.
We came to Paysandu and found that the previous Elders didn’t leave much in the area book. They didn’t leave anything. Not even a map!! Ward list? I wish! Investigators...not a one. So we started from zero and found 8 investigators and had 2 in church. I normally don’t like talking about numbers but I am proud of how well we did from nothing.
Our apartment is really nice!! It is the nicest and most expensive apartment in the whole mission. We live on the seventh floor of an apartment-office building. We have balconies, bay windows in the kitchen, wood floor, and a big room. We live with the Zone Leaders so there are 4 Elders but I think we could fit 4 more in here comfortably. It is an amazing apartment. My poor kid. I had to tell him that it only goes downhill from here. I cant believe that a year ago I lived in a cement box with cockroaches everywhere and now I live in downtown Paysandu on the seventh floor with a view. The mission is just never predictable.
Yesterday a man informed us that Osama Bin Laden is working with the US government from within the Pentagon. He also warned us that the Statue of Liberty is the next target. He didn’t seem drunk or on drugs. I think he really believed his information. So I am doing my part and passing that information on. Keep an eye open.
The people here love Obama. We are instantly popular now. Everyone wants to tell us about our black president. Some people are a little crazy. One man in the street told us that Obama was gonna get revenge and turn it all back around and that the white people are going to be slaves. One of the hardest things for me is not saying anything when I hear such political ignorance. Some of the Elders say some things that ought not to be said also. I have found that sometimes standing up for what is right means reverent dignity. You gotta pick your battles.
The ward here seems pretty okay. It isn’t as strong as Tacuarembo or Cerro, but it isn’t as difficult as was Artigas. We are going to have some success here. The one thing I like about a small ward is that it is easier to get to know all the active members and get them involved in your activities. Elder Ericson loves the idea of inviting youth to play soccer at the chapel, and having activities, and trying to work with the ward a lot. I see a lot of how I was when I first started in him. He is ready to try all the creative stuff as I have been so accustomed to working the way I have been for a while. It should be good for me to re-analyze the way I do things.
Anyway, I hope that everyone is doing well. I am happy and healthy. I am working hard and being obedient. I know that God lives and that He loves us all on a personal level. We all need to seek to improve that personal relationship that we have with Him. Take care. I love you all!!
Andy
In the mission it is a very common joke that a missionary trainer is a father and his trainee is his kid. Well my kid is named Elder Bryce Ericson from Kuna, Idaho. He is a well-mannered boy. His dad is a high school Spanish and geography teacher and his mom is from Spain. He understands Spanish really well for a greenie. Definitely the best of his group. He isn’t shy but he is quiet. He is a lot like me I think, or like I was when I started. To be honest, he reminds me a lot of Luke. The thing that I find weirdest is that he graduated in 2008!! That is 2 years after me!! I cant believe I graduated high school 3 years ago. He makes me feel old.
We came to Paysandu and found that the previous Elders didn’t leave much in the area book. They didn’t leave anything. Not even a map!! Ward list? I wish! Investigators...not a one. So we started from zero and found 8 investigators and had 2 in church. I normally don’t like talking about numbers but I am proud of how well we did from nothing.
Our apartment is really nice!! It is the nicest and most expensive apartment in the whole mission. We live on the seventh floor of an apartment-office building. We have balconies, bay windows in the kitchen, wood floor, and a big room. We live with the Zone Leaders so there are 4 Elders but I think we could fit 4 more in here comfortably. It is an amazing apartment. My poor kid. I had to tell him that it only goes downhill from here. I cant believe that a year ago I lived in a cement box with cockroaches everywhere and now I live in downtown Paysandu on the seventh floor with a view. The mission is just never predictable.
Yesterday a man informed us that Osama Bin Laden is working with the US government from within the Pentagon. He also warned us that the Statue of Liberty is the next target. He didn’t seem drunk or on drugs. I think he really believed his information. So I am doing my part and passing that information on. Keep an eye open.
The people here love Obama. We are instantly popular now. Everyone wants to tell us about our black president. Some people are a little crazy. One man in the street told us that Obama was gonna get revenge and turn it all back around and that the white people are going to be slaves. One of the hardest things for me is not saying anything when I hear such political ignorance. Some of the Elders say some things that ought not to be said also. I have found that sometimes standing up for what is right means reverent dignity. You gotta pick your battles.
The ward here seems pretty okay. It isn’t as strong as Tacuarembo or Cerro, but it isn’t as difficult as was Artigas. We are going to have some success here. The one thing I like about a small ward is that it is easier to get to know all the active members and get them involved in your activities. Elder Ericson loves the idea of inviting youth to play soccer at the chapel, and having activities, and trying to work with the ward a lot. I see a lot of how I was when I first started in him. He is ready to try all the creative stuff as I have been so accustomed to working the way I have been for a while. It should be good for me to re-analyze the way I do things.
Anyway, I hope that everyone is doing well. I am happy and healthy. I am working hard and being obedient. I know that God lives and that He loves us all on a personal level. We all need to seek to improve that personal relationship that we have with Him. Take care. I love you all!!
Andy
Paysandu
email 2/3/09
Farewell Montevideo! It is time for me to go. I am very excited for my next transfer. I get to go to a new area, which for me is exciting because I don’t know if you have all been counting but being a missionary for 16 months I have only been 3 places. I am very excited because I am training too. Tomorrow I will go to the offices and pick up a fresh green Elder who is coming from the MTC in Buenos Aires, where all South America South missionaries come from these days, no longer do they come from Provo. Then we will get on a bus and go to a brand new area. This will be my first time opening an area. (To open an area means to go in where nobody that was previously there will be there.) I am excited about opening an area because that means I wont fall into any wicked traditions of previous Elders, I will just start how I want and how I feel it needs to be. Paysandú is back up north, to the heat of the interior, and it is back to the small city. I can live with that.
I feel content to leave this area at this time. We just had 2 baptisms and we have 2 more set up for this next month and a few possibles, and the ward attendance is back up above 100. I feel good that I can leave this place better than I found it.
What I am beginning to really understand is that the Atonement is not something that we put on at the end of our lives. It is something that really has cleansing power today. It can clean us and change us today if we let it. Jesus Christ really is our Saviour. He really did suffer for the sins of all humanity. That is a reality, it is WAY more than a good idea that makes us want to do good things. It is true. The power of the Atonement is real and applicable.
I love you all so much and I hope that you are all well and happy. Take care!!
Andy
Farewell Montevideo! It is time for me to go. I am very excited for my next transfer. I get to go to a new area, which for me is exciting because I don’t know if you have all been counting but being a missionary for 16 months I have only been 3 places. I am very excited because I am training too. Tomorrow I will go to the offices and pick up a fresh green Elder who is coming from the MTC in Buenos Aires, where all South America South missionaries come from these days, no longer do they come from Provo. Then we will get on a bus and go to a brand new area. This will be my first time opening an area. (To open an area means to go in where nobody that was previously there will be there.) I am excited about opening an area because that means I wont fall into any wicked traditions of previous Elders, I will just start how I want and how I feel it needs to be. Paysandú is back up north, to the heat of the interior, and it is back to the small city. I can live with that.
I feel content to leave this area at this time. We just had 2 baptisms and we have 2 more set up for this next month and a few possibles, and the ward attendance is back up above 100. I feel good that I can leave this place better than I found it.
What I am beginning to really understand is that the Atonement is not something that we put on at the end of our lives. It is something that really has cleansing power today. It can clean us and change us today if we let it. Jesus Christ really is our Saviour. He really did suffer for the sins of all humanity. That is a reality, it is WAY more than a good idea that makes us want to do good things. It is true. The power of the Atonement is real and applicable.
I love you all so much and I hope that you are all well and happy. Take care!!
Andy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
